VOL. 51 ISSUE 10 MARCH 11, 2014 P71
BY CHRIS MARTIN
PHOTOGRAPHY BY GOLD & GOOSE AND
ANDREA WILSON
I
t wasn't that long ago that a gig
as a factory AMA Superbike pi-
lot provided a relatively stable
existence. Sure, the odds were
stacked against promising talents
attempting to break in, but - like a
tenured professor or a made man
in the Mafia - once you were in,
you were in. Even modestly re-
spectable results were generally
all that were required from an es-
tablished Superbike rider to have
a seat practically assured in the
annual game of silly season musi-
cal chairs.
The landscape radically shift-
ed a few years back and that was
no longer the reality. Even Su-
perbike race winners with names
like Hacking, Zemke, Bostrom,
or Yates could no longer assume
they'd be offered a premium rate,
competitive equipment, or even a
place on the grid.
This developing rider market
crisis seemingly reached its cre-
scendo at the end of the 2011
season. Paddock stalwart Tom-
my Hayden had finally blossomed
into the Superbike superstar he
had struggled to become for well
over a decade. In 2010, Hayden
racked up the first five Superbike
race wins of his career and made
a serious push for the title. The
following season, Hayden's rid-
ing was even more impressive
in some ways, and he collected
three more wins en route to third
place in the championship fight.
And then, incredibly, he was
AFTER HAVING
ONLY PART-
TIME WORK IN
2013, BLAKE
YOUNG LANDS
A FULL-TIME
DAYTONA
SPORTBIKE
RIDE FOR THE
2014 SEASON.
BACK IN
BUSINESS
